Female Genital Mutilation

For 3-year-old Amira, a law banning female genital mutilation in Eritrea came too late. Wrapped in an orange traditional dress, Amira’s mother, who gives her name only as Gerejet, says she circumcised the child to please her future husband. Like Gerejet and Amira, some 100 million women worldwide have been circumcised, a procedure that at its most extreme involves cutting off the clitoris and external genitalia then stitching the vagina to reduce a woman’s sexual desire.Meriam Mohamed Omar, a former circumciser, pulls the fabric of her purple dress to mimic external genitalia and sticks a small needle through it.

“I used to use a thin stick from a palm tree. You hold the genitalia in two then cut it,” she says. For a more in-depth look at this practice with the World Health Organization site. To stand up to this practice takes courage. This is a good time to take a break from promoting entrepreneurship to discuss what it really means to stand up for something that is not right. I got to thinking, what am willing to stand up for? What are you willing to stand up for?

Norwegian-Somalian Kadra, who became famous in Norway for exposing imam support of female circumcision, was beaten unconscious on Thursday. Kadra was attacked and beaten senseless by seven or eight persons of Somali origin, newspaper VG reports. The video you are about to see contains extremely graphic images and may be disturbing to view.

What are you willing to stand up for?

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This is beyond sad, but barbaric and ruthless. On the other hand, the practice shows how strong culture can be. I think about how violently angry get when I question people about the war in Iraq. The response is so visceral that your might as well get ready for an actual fight. This goes to show how strong culture is in politics and how people chose to live their lives.